NCSF Proudly Celebrates 10 Years of Advocacy

August 27, 2007 - NCSF proud to be the only group in the country with a national mission committed to changing the political, legal and social environment for those involved with the BDSM, swinging and polyamory communities. NCSF's six programs have directly helped thousands of practitioners, businesses and groups. Four of NCSF's programs began with the founding of NCSF in 1997: the Media Outreach Project, Media Updates, Incident Response, and the Legal Advocacy program.

NCSF's Incident Response team is directed by Leigha Fleming. Over 700 individuals, groups, attorneys, prosecutors, and businesses contact NCSF for help every year because of persecution or discrimination. NCSF assisted both International Mr. Leather and Kink.com this year, continuing its decade-long practice of fighting religious political extremists and performing outreach to local communities and authorities.

NCSF's Media Outreach Program provides sound bites and tactics for anyone dealing with the media. Spokesperson Susan Wright regularly gives media trainings and conducts over 60 interviews every year, influencing the coverage of alternative sexuality issues. The NCSF Media Updates, created by Keith Richie, feature articles about BDSM, swinging and polyamory, and provides contact information to write letters to the editor in order to influence how editorial decisions are made in the future.

NCSF's Legal Advocacy team is led by John, with pro bono lawyers researching current laws and creating Amicus Briefs to submit to courts in cases involving obscenity prosecutions, "consent is not a defense to assault", and right to freedom of assembly. NCSF's Communications Decency Act lawsuit with Barbara Nitke made history by challenging the Miller standard of obscenity as it applies to the Internet.

NCSF took custody of their newest program, the Kink Aware Professionals (KAP) free referral list, from Race Bannon in 2006. NCSF created a new KAP brochure and is actively recruiting additional psychotherapeutic, medical, and legal professionals who are knowledgeable about and sensitive to diverse expressions of sexuality.

The Education Outreach Program (EOP) is run under the Institute for 21st Century Relationships: The Foundation of NCSF. ITCR supports the freedom of consenting adults to discover and to practice the intimate relationship structure that best meets their emotional and human needs. The EOP is designed to educate law enforcement officials, and to educate constituents about the risks of selective enforcement and how to minimize the risk of becoming a target. NCSF has published a number of pieces of literature for this program and has trained a team of individuals from across the country to deliver 10 educational presentations from "Traveling With Toys" to "How to Protect Your Event."

Over the past decade, NCSF has formed valuable alliances with other advocacy organizations to work on projects that defend sexual freedom rights: Free Speech Coalition, the ACLU, American Association of Sex Educators Councilors and Therapists, the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, and the Gay and Lesbian Activist Alliance, among others.

Currently NCSF has 54 Coalition Partners who elect the board and establish the yearly goals at the annual Coalition Partner meeting. Coalition Partners are groups and businesses that serve BDSM, swing and polyamory practitioners. NCSF also has over 100 Supporting Members: groups and businesses who actively support NCSF - totaling tens of thousands of members. Aside from Office Manager Levi Halberstadt, the staff of NCSF consists of dozens of volunteers around the country.

Every dollar that is donated to NCSF and ITCR goes to directly serving the alt sex communities. All donations to ITCR-NCSF are tax deductible. In the past decade, alternative sexual expression has become much more visible to the general public, bringing about an increasing number of attacks. The success of this fight depends on your support. You can become an individual member of NCSF, volunteer to join the NCSF staff, make a donation to NCSF, initiate or help out at a fund-raiser for NCSF, and encourage your group to become a Coalition Partner of NCSF. Every step you take helps us further the sexual freedom movement!

Check out the new and updated NCSF website at: www.ncsfreedom.org

A joint Project of NCSF and ITCR: The Foundation of NCSF The National Coalition for Sexual Freedom is a national organization committed to creating a political, legal, and social environment in the United States that advances equal rights of consenting adults who practice forms of alternative sexual expression. NCSF is primarily focused on the rights of consenting adults in the SM-leather-fetish, swing, and polyamory communities, who often face discrimination because of their sexual expression.

National Coalition for Sexual Freedom 822 Guilford Avenue, Box 127 Baltimore, MD 21202-3707 410-539-4824
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www.ncsfreedom.org

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